Great British Products - Assessment

stueyhants

After reading the Great British products thread it got me thinking. Within that thread there are numerous great examples of British talent and skills, world leading products that help the UK economy. It makes you proud to be British and shows the rest of the world we do have something to offer.

What has struck me though, is given all these great examples of products and the export revenues it generates, the UK still has a negative trade balance and is basically reliant on debt to fund our lifestyles. We don't pay our way in the world at present.

So not only do we have to maintain all these great products and inventions just to stand still, we have to actually increase these going forward to reach 'a break even' point. We then need to go even further to generate a surplus to make up for the past decades of deficits.

Taking a dispassionate look at the country and on the balance of probabilities do people really see that being a likely outcome in the medium or long term ?

vivatifosi

stueyhants wrote: »

After reading the Great British products thread it got me thinking. Within that thread there are numerous great examples of British talent and skills, world leading products that help the UK economy. It makes you proud to be British and shows the rest of the world we do have something to offer.

What has struck me though, is given all these great examples of products and the export revenues it generates, the UK still has a negative trade balance and is basically reliant on debt to fund our lifestyles. We don't pay our way in the world at present.

So not only do we have to maintain all these great products and inventions just to stand still, we have to actually increase these going forward to reach 'a break even' point. We then need to go even further to generate a surplus to make up for the past decades of deficits.

Taking a dispassionate look at the country and on the balance of probabilities do people really see that being a likely outcome in the medium or long term ?

My take on the issue stuey is that we're really good at the design of new products, however the times that we get to manufacture, brand and sell these products (from those listed), they are almost always for niche markets. Those world beating designers that truly do reach the mass market - such as Ive and his Ipod and other Apple devices - have taken their skill set to foreign manufacturers. Don't know the answer, but does raise interesting questions.

JP45

stueyhants wrote: »

...given all these great examples of products and the export revenues it generates, the UK still has a negative trade balance and is basically reliant on debt to fund our lifestyles. We don't pay our way in the world at present....

Taking a dispassionate look at the country and on the balance of probabilities do people really see that being a likely outcome in the medium or long term ?

The problem is that much of the UK has been on a debt-fuelled consumer binge over recent years, in stark contrast to the surplus nations such as Germany, Japan and China where people have tended (for a variety of reasons) to save more and spend less.

As for the future, I would certainly hope that we do not see a return to the excessive consumption of recent years. I would imagine there's little prospect of that anyway as credit is likely to remain tight for the foreseeable future.

Now if only the good people of Germany, China and the other surplus nations could loosen the purse strings...

Conrad

Yet we are on of the wealthiest nations on Earth. I think our net income flows need to be considered - income that flows from UK owned plany located abroad, indeed a good proportion is in China.

stueyhants

Conrad wrote: »

Yet we are on of the wealthiest nations on Earth. I think our net income flows need to be considered - income that flows from UK owned plany located abroad, indeed a good proportion is in China.

But given what you have said and including all the great products we produce, UK public debt was and is still increasing. UK private debt is increasing. What more can we do to balance the books?

Conrad

stueyhants wrote: »

But given what you have said and including all the great products we produce, UK public debt was and is still increasing. UK private debt is increasing. What more can we do to balance the books?

The French have had vastly more public debt since the 1970's yet somehow they muddled through over the decades. Many nations had larger public debt compared with us prior to the crunch.

As for private debt, well think about the risk taking buccaneers of centuries ago and the building of the Brit empire. We've always had this propensity to get into debt and take risks.

I have some flats in Germany and let me tell you despite thier powerful manufacturing and despite thier supposed dislike of debt, its just not as dynamic a place to be compared to the UK. Even the coffee shops in Berlin are mainly like British Rail 1970's affairs.

Most of us DO manage our debts and do not get into difficluty despite the Daily Mail sensationalist headlines. We shouldn't get carried away with seemingly large debt numbers - on the whole most of us do cope and the world doesn't end.

Furthermore a lot of private debt is asset backed. Go to most places on the Med and you will invariably find a disproportionate amount of real estate owned by Brits. Let the Germans save in Bank accounts - it is'nt our style.

lostinrates

Conrad wrote: »

on the whole most of us do cope and the world doesn't end..

no, but to be fair when those who are meant to manage the biggest debts the best don't cope we've seen a pretty impactful situation...